Sfax Through the Ages

Chapter 8 - Tomorrow

On the northeast side of the old medina, over the last few years, a large block of land has been growing. This area, mud flats in the curve of bay between the port and Sidi Mansour, has been reclaimed from the sea; millions of tons of earth are being added to raise the dry land to as much as 10 meters above sea level. This is Project Taparura, begun in the 1990s as a remediation project to remove decades of pollution, on the land and also under water.

Conscious of the danger that pollution represented to the health of the inhabitants, President Ben Ali decided, in 1992, to initiate the project “Taparura” and instructed the implementation of the first phase on the 6th April following, leading to the plan for removal of Phosphogypsum, in order that this zone would be finished around 2008, to initiate the management of a corniche, urban spaces, green zones and a transport infrastructure. Taking into account the importance of the environmental objectives which target various aspects of pollution, to revive the marine area and rehabilitate the beach, this project was entrusted to the Society for the study and management of the coastline north of the city of Sfax, responsible for the studies and the work.

The area concerned covers 260 hectares (about 500 acres), and will be developed, once the land fill has compacted sufficiently, into a public beach with residential and commercial properties interspersed with gardens and parks. Since late 2006 plans have been displayed publicly near the railway station, and it is from these posters that the diagram below has been made.

Key

Column 1 key list

heading
Column 2 key list

Column 3 key list

The work on the project continues, and this page will be updated as development progresses. The pictures for the panorama below were taken on August 4, 2007. (Click
here
for a larger picture (210MB) in a separate window).

These pictures were taken on December 3, 2007. (Click
here
for a larger picture (186MB) in a separate window).

January 30, 2008. (Click
here
for a larger picture (267MB) in a separate window).

September 17, 2008. (Click
here
for a larger picture (308MB) in a separate window).

September 23, 2011. (Click
here
for a larger picture (1.01MB) in a separate window).